Such storage devices, which can be opened from one side or the other, are known, for example to form central armrests extending between two neighbouring seats in a vehicle. With such a storage device, it is possible for both occupants of the seats to access the storage compartment easily simply by opening the storage device from the appropriate side of the opening.
Such a storage device needs a locking device able to lock the lid in its closed position and to allow the lid to move to its first or second opened positions depending on the side from which it is desired to access to the storage compartment. Such a storage device also needs an unlocking device able to cooperate with the locking device to open and close the lid. Such an unlocking device must be easily actuable from both side of the storage compartment such that both users of the storage device can easily open the lid, no matter on which side of the storage device they are seated.
Known locking and unlocking devices are usually very complex and require many movable parts arranged both on the storage compartment and on the lid. The complexity and the number of movable parts of such locking and unlocking devices make them fragile and subject to malfunctions. Furthermore, such locking and unlocking devices are very cumbersome, especially on the lid, which results in a loss of space leading to a reduction of the storage volume of the storage compartment and in a gain of weight on the lid, which becomes less easy to manipulate and which requires more robust parts to ensure its opening and its maintaining m its opened positions. The storage device is therefore expensive to produce.